loki

Did you try calling the product activation number to activate? If it was a retail version, as opposed to an OEM one, they should be able to reset the product activation counter for you. Some people have also had luck resetting the OEM editions too, though these are meant to be tied to the first motherboard they are installed on.

It appears that many people got excited and skipped over the "Beta" part of the title. This is not a final release and bugs should be expected. To install it, Steam users have to go into the Steam Client and explicitly opt into the beta version. Don't see any reason to lock this thread.

Many people run FS9 in Windows 10 just fine. See the pinned thread at the top of the forum on installing and configuring it.

I wouldn't be worried about impressing them with the latest and greatest. They will presumably want to test the sim on as many different PC setups as possible during the alpha and beta process, including high, mid and low end models. As for third party developers, Asobo does seem very intent on including them.

Microsoft has pushed out a new beat release of FSX Steam Edition. The primary change is adding telemetry to support their development of the new sim. There are, however, additional bug fixes and updates, including the reintegration of live weather. See the link below for the full release notes. https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791436916733/announcements/detail/2549529393507642734

And one more video showing 9 cities in 4k resolution.

Microsoft has released another trailer for the upcoming sim. https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?319273-Microsoft-Flight-Simulator-XO19-Trailer&p=2094811#post2094811

Check out the latest trailer for the new MFS from the Xbox XO19 event.

As one example of how serious companies take NDAs, check out the article below. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-11-13-epic-sues-yet-another-tester-for-leaking-info-on-fortnite-chapter-2

If Microsoft didn't care, they wouldn't have asked alpha testers to agree to the NDA. A big part of why they, and other developers, use NDAs is so they can control what is shared while the sum is under development. With it still being in the alpha stage, a lot could change before release. Don't think Avsim will be any more help either.

The easy answer right now is that you should wait as we don't know anything about the Xbox version other than it is coming some time after the PC one. A big question is whether it will even run on the current Xbox One or will it only run on the new Xbox to be released next year.

The NDA tech alpha testers agreed to prohibits sharing anything about the sim, so you shouldn't expect any responses.

Looks like PMDG is moving future development to the new sim and P3Dv4. https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/25608-07nov19-pmdg-product-trajectory-alignment-what-to-expect-in-the-coming-weeks-months-hours-etc

There isn't enough info available to answer this one way or the other yet.

There's nothing, that we know of, stopping a developer from creating a more detailed add-ons for the PC with a lower quality version for the Xbox. A number of games currently offer PC users better scenery and graphics than the Xbox version, and I expect something similar will happen with the new sim. The Xbox will appeal to those looking for a cheaper option that they can just plug in and fly, while the PC will be for those looking for the best possible performance, graphics and flexibility.

There isn't enough information to say which one would better at the moment. The new Sim is being developed for the PC first, and will be brought to the Xbox some time after that. As the next generation of Xbox is looking fairly powerful, it could be a good option for many as it will cost much less than a mid range PC. As for using an Xbox, some joysticks are supported, but not all. I wouldn't count on older ones being supported. We also don't know how add-ons will be supported on the Xbox. Right now all add-ons for a given fame have to go through the Xbox store or through the game itself. Downloading and installing an add-ons from Flightsim.com, for example, may not be allowed.

Here's the latest update. Invites for the tech alpha are going out. https://www.flightsimulator.com/october-24th-2019-development-update/

You're still misreading and conflating two different things. While the names are similar, GDDR and DDR RAM are two separate designs for different purposes. PCs used GDDR5 memory for GPUs long before the Xbox One was launched, and already use GDDR6 today on the latest GPUs. Where Xbox Scarlett will probably be sharing its 12 GB of GDDR memory between the CPU and GPU, gaming PCs will probably have 8-16GB of DDR RAM for the CPU plus 8GB, or more, of GDDR6 RAM for the GPU. Those with home cockpits may well need to go with a PC to use multiple monitors and physical switches, especially custom built configurations, for one use case. The gaming PC market is still growing and quite healthy, and I expect will be around for some time yet.

That doesn't prove what your saying at all. There is a difference between DDR4 and GDDR6, with the GDDR6 being aimed at GPUs and specialized cases like the Xbox. It is has already come to desktop PCs with the latest generation of GPUs. On the other hand, Xbox Scarlett will apparently have a 12 core Zen 2 based processor, while AMD will release 24 and 32 core models this fall for the desktop. https://www.anandtech.com/show/14994/first-details-about-3rd-generation-ryzen-threadripper-32-cores-280-w Xbox Scarlett will be a powerful machine, but nothing about it says it will make desktop PCs obsolete at all. Consoles have never been about having the most powerful hardware, and other than maybe a short period after they launch, have always trailed desktop PCs. This generation looks to be the same.

Sorry, going to have to completely disagree with all of that. Asobo have been pretty clear about there being two versions, the first for the PC and the second at some later point for the Xbox. As for hardware, the PC is not falling behind by any means at all. You're going to have to provide some pretty extraordinary evidence to back that up. The CPUs and GPUs available on the PC side will keep developing while the Xbox will be fixed.

Doesn't matter if it was a Microsoft studio or not, there was never outrage when the PC version had more than the Xbox because PCs were far more powerful and open. At the moment we can only wait to see what the new Xbox looks like. Keep in mind too that the Xbox hardware doesn't change very often after release while the PC side will keep getting more powerful. If the PC version of the sim doesn't grow with the hardware, this is where I would expect to see so called outrage. They have said this is a sim for the next ten years, so I would expect it to keep up with new hardware over that period.

This isn't true at all. There are many games where the PC version does have content or features that are not available on the Xbox One side. A common one is higher resolution textures and more detailed 3D models for PCs because they can handle them, while the Xbox one simply can't and there is no outrage at all. See this article about GTA V, for one example. The only way there would be outrage was if the Xbox Scarlett version was artificially handicapped, and I don't see them doing this at all. However, we don't know what it will take to run the sim on a PC yet, or what the Xbox version will be like. Asobo have said they're still focusing on the PC version and haven't put much into the Xbox side yet.

The upcoming Xbox will likely be the best option for many people, especially those on a budget and those that simply don't want to mess around with all the other issues that are part of using a PC. This is a big part of why consoles took off with the original Xbox and PS3 many years ago. Other other hand, we don't know how similar or different the sim will be between the two platforms. For example, historically the Xbox has been a much more locked down platform and it usually isn't possible to install mods/add-ons/DLC from third party websites, like Flightsim.com. All add-ons have to go through the game developer and Xbox store. There may also be restrictions on the quality of scenery and more limited space for a local cache for offline flying.

An external USB3 SSD will be slower than an internal SSD, but still reasonably fast. USB2, on the other hand, would be much, much slower. If possible, an internal SSD would still be preferable though.

They're talking about how much space will be needed to cache the enhanced scenery included in the sim, not add-ons. At the moment no one really knows for sure how space the scenery will take.